Kevin Duffy: With a little hesitation, UConn's new life evaporates for good

Updated 12:51 am, Sunday, October 13, 2013

EAST HARTFORD -- Sometime during Lyle McCombs' 52-yard, field-reversing, defender-spinning, end zone-diving touchdown scamper, the idea of new life for UConn football seemed very real.

And the new was, in essence, the old. A good thing. Mike Foley was back as offensive line coach, and the nation's worst rush offense had recaptured its old prowess. But the old UConn would fade to the new UConn, morphing into the Huskies you've watched for the past two-and-a-half seasons under Paul Pasqualoni.

Yes, UConn needed a new coach. But it desperately needed a timeout Saturday afternoon, and Weist was scanning the playbook as vital seconds were melting away.

Sometimes, new can hurt, too.

"I'm man enough to say what I did right and what I did wrong," Weist said. "I told the team, `That's on me.'"

Weist has never been a head coach at any level. He's never been responsible for clock management. He surely hasn't been responsible for calling the plays and keeping tabs on the clock simultaneously, the difficult dual task he's taken on as interim coach.

So when new quarterback Tim Boyle and receiver Dhameer Bradley connected for a first down at the South Florida 49-yard line, Weist said he thought the clock would stop at 16 seconds. It paused for the spot of the ball, and then kept rolling. Weist said he was deciding between a play call or burning his final timeout. Boyle was yelling toward the sidelines. By the time Boyle signaled for timeout, only seven ticks in the game remained, not enough time to run a play that would get the Huskies, trailing 13-10, into field goal range.

"I can't make that mistake in a game and learn from it," Weist said. "I just did. It cost us the game."

Truth is, that's a little extreme. That's a new coach using an old coaching cliche. Truth is, Weist's blunder merely cost UConn a chance to tie a stinker of a college football game that neither team could seize.

UConn dropped three Boyle touchdown passes. South Florida dropped three Boyle interceptions ... on the final possession. After the first play of the second quarter, UConn had rushed 16 times for 174 yards (sacks not included). The rest of the game, the Huskies called only 16 more rushing plays, netting 63 yards.

UConn seemed to get away from its most effective offense. South Florida's only effective offense was the screen pass. There were 48 incomplete passes, 16 punts and just 23 points in this game. This thing was a tiresome loop of wasted field position: UConn would pin South Florida on its goal line. South Florida would punt. UConn would move the ball forward 5 yards and pin the Bulls again. Repeat.

So, yeah, after that mesmerizing, six-or-seven-cutback touchdown run by McCombs, this was a pitiful game. Yet, it was still winnable for either side.

The drops killed UConn. Spencer Parker let a touchdown slip through his hands with 8:47 left in the first quarter, and then a diving DeShon Foxx -- slow on a route, according to Weist -- dropped a pass at the goal line in the second.

"DeShon Foxx -- run out of the cut," Weist said. "Run. You're wide open. Run down the field and make the play. He came out, was looking early, and all of a sudden the ball is in the air and now he's running. It's too late."

Foxx went for the trifecta late in the third, misplaying another ball at the goal line. If those drops were secured, UConn could very well have scored 21 points on those drives. Instead, it settled for three.

"I think it came down to a couple of plays where we didn't come through," Boyle said. "I felt pretty comfortable, not really rattled that much."

Boyle did look poised. He finished 15-for-43, so it's hard to rave about the new quarterback, but he slowed flashes. He's got deceiving speed, scrambling for first-down gains on three separate plays. He's got great arm strength, backpedaling to avoid the rush as he fired a dart across the field to Sean McQuillan for a big first down. He missed some throws, sure. He wasn't great, but then again, neither is Chandler Whitmer.

"Tim Boyle, I thought, played an exceptional game for a true freshman," Weist said. "If some of our skill guys make those catches, then this is a different game."

Or if UConn sustains its rushing attack, maybe it leaves with an ugly win, the way old UConn football teams did.

"I felt like some of the changes we made, obviously in the run game with coach Foley taking over, helped us," Weist said. "I thought it did. We ran the ball."

Just in the final three quarters, they didn't do it nearly as often or quite as effectively. Weist said the Bulls stayed in Cover Two schemes, putting pressure on the edges. McCombs said South Florida made "excellent adjustments." He said the Bulls started slanting on everything.

Whatever happened, the new UConn offense sputtered. Excellent field position was squandered. On so many levels, the Huskies failed to execute.

"I'm not a magician in terms of motivation," Weist said. "I couldn't motivate a team better than what we did as a staff, honestly. It comes down to, what do we do on the football field and what position did I put them in? I've got work to do."

"I didn't finish out that last drive," Weist admitted. "Probably one of the most important plays of the game."

Yep, the new UConn coach had a crucial lapse. And for a whole bunch of reasons, the Huskies' new life evaporated, replaced by that same old winless feeling.